Unsung Heroes
by skitzoid
Summary: AU: Two friends move to America with less than they had hoped. A father's killer reappears only to wreck their already ruined lives. What can four teens do? InuKag :: MirSan :: poss. SessRin


Disclaimer: Oi! I don't own Inuyasha and Co. but I do own the concept of this idea, and have every intention of trying to publish this one day!! No stealing it. It's mine. My own. My Precious.

Okay. Now that that's over with. I'm Skitzoid, your host, and here's a story for ya…it's been in the works for quite sometime and I just now got around to doing it. In fact this is the revised version of it and is much better than me first attempt. Unfortunately I lost my plotline and character analysis, so I'm going to have to do that all over again…fun. And this is the first Inuyasha fanfiction I've posted, not the first concept however. I have been seen editing bluberry-mist's fanfics such as Crimson Regret, Tick Tock of the Clock is Painful, Shadow of Myself, A Trial of the Heart, and The Highway Man Inuyasha style, including some unposted fics of hers, and now I've gotten off my lazy bum and typed up my own. You probably don't want to hear my ranting. In fact you've probably already skipped it…I feel so unloved. Oh well. This is a re-edited version since I am a perfectionist and my own editor with the help of bluberry-mist and extraterrestrial. These are not always good combos. But I finally got off my lazy bum and re-typed it. Comments and criticism welcome. On with the story!

Unsung Heroes

Chapter 1

-Childhood Memories-

"_Inu-chan, whatcha think 'Merica's like?" The picture of childish innocence laid her head on folded arms resting on a park rail. Her bare feet dangled over a brick ledge under the shade of a nearby oak. The early May sun bore down upon the two six-year-olds as they talked of Inuyasha's move in the near future. Small specks of dark green grass stuck to the girl's clothes and hair._

"_I dunno, Sango-chan, I s'pose it's a lot like Japan 'cept the people talk funny," replied the dog-eared boy. "Why?"_

"_Just wonderin'. Do ya think they'll make fun of ya like Satoru?"_

"_Nah. What'd they make fun of me for anyways?"_

"_Well, maybe because ya'd talk funny to them or maybe they'll think ya look weird or maybe because you're really tall or because you're smart or even 'cause of your eyes? I dunno."_

"_You worry too much, Sango-chan," Inuyasha said looking up at her from his resting position against the brick wall._

"_So."_

"_So, it makes ya a worry wart."_

"_Am not!" she replied in mock anger, giving him her best pout._

"_Are too."_

"_You're such a butt you know that, Inu-chan?" _

_Inuyasha stood, "Let's go home, Sango-chan," he said_

_Sango slid under the rail from her perch and followed her life long buddy back to her house. There she could continue her playful antics and enjoy the company of her friends and family along with her plastic toys. As she thought of her and Inu's plastic toy heaven, Sango gazed at the sky as they passed the entrance to the park. "Look!" she said, her arm was pointed to the clouds overhead._

"_What?" his gaze looked to where she was pointing._

"_A puppy!!"_

"_That's not a puppy it's a whale." _

"_It's a puppy and you know it."_

"_No it's not. It's a whale."_

"_Puppy!"_

"_Whale."_

"_Puppy."_

"_Whale."_

"_No. It's a ripped pillow. See the stuffin' spewin' out?"_

_Inuyasha gave the girl a sidelong glance that told her she was crazy. "Where do you get these things, Sango-chan?"_

"_What you don't think it looks like a ripped pillow?" she asked._

"_No, I think it looks like a whale."_

"_Well you're just stubborn, you butt."_

"_Well, if I'm stubborn, you're a goat," he retorted._

"_Am not!"_

"_Are too," he said sticking his tongue out at her._

_Before she could answer, however, a gunshot and a yell of pain came from a nearby alley. Inuyahsa's eyes changed from happiness and warmth to a mixture of confusing and curiosity. The girl looked to the alley where the sound came from, then looked to her friend as if asking him what was going on._

"_What was that, Inu-chan?"_

"_I dunno. Sounded like somebody got shot. Follow me."_

_Becoming frightened, Sango followed Inuyasha. Out of curiosity, the two walked toward the alley, hiding behind some boxes. At the other end, two figures stood; well, one stood while the other crouched, clutching his wounded arm._

_The man standing lowered his gun and kicked the other in the ribs, sending him reeling back, slamming into the dumpster. The man slowly got to his knees, coughing up blood as he did so. _

"_Hiraisho, stay down!" the armed man warned, "or the next shot will be your last."_

"_Daddy?" Sango squeaked, though barely audile. She now recognized the wounded figure as her father._

"_You don't want to do this Onigumo!" said Hiraisho quite obviously pleading for his life._

"_Do what? Kill you?" Onigumo said in a mock soothing tone. "Of course I do!"_

"_Why?" Hiraisho gasped, continuing to cough and attempt to stand._

"_Well, let's see if we can put this in terms you can understand. Why do dogs fight over food? I'm protecting myself and what's mine. No don't try to interrupt me. That wouldn't be too smart of you would it, Hiraisho? No. In fact, you would have done better had you never interfered in the first place. But you did. And now you must suffer the consequences just as Donoutai did three weeks ago." _

_Both Inuyasha and Sango winced at the statement and Sango's eyes widened in fear. "He was your partner, right? It seems like both of you had a bad habit of sticking your noses where they didn't belong. I can't believe that you honestly thought you could catch me. You must be dumber than I first gave you credit for, friend. But let this be a warning to all: 'Don't mess with Onigumo.'" With that, five shots rang through the afternoon air; five bullets imbedding themselves into an already bloodied and battered body._

"_DADDY!" Sagno shrieked as she ran toward the limp form at the other end of the alley, not caring if she herself got shot._

_Onigumo raised his gun and aimed at the girl. He pulled the trigger, but ironically, nothing happened. He looked at the gun in disbelief, then to the girl running toward him, and letting out a string of curses, he fled the scene._

_The little girl knelt next to her father's lifeless body, his warm blood soaking her arms and face, matting her chestnut hair and staining her clothes. She prayed to all the gods her young mind knew, wishing he would wake up and say it was all a joke, but nothing happened. She began to understand that he wasn't coming back; the dam holding back her tears broke. He was dead._

_Inuyasha stared blankly for a moment at his distraught friend from their hiding place behind the boxes and then walked over to where she lay over her fallen father. He knelt next to her, staying quiet, waiting until she made a move to do anything, while inside he was reliving the anguish of losing another father figure. Then, without a word, Sango stood and moved toward the opposite wall. She didn't move because of Inuyasha, but because she couldn't stand the thought of being near her father when she knew she would never see him alive again._

_After processing what she had done, Inuyasha followed Sango to her new spot. She looked up at the sound of rustling clothes and saw several tears fall to the ground. Sango watched as he sat next to her, realizing that he was going through the same thing as her. He put his arm around her shoulders and she clung to him. She clung to him for comfort, for support, but whether for herself or for him, she didn't know._

"_Crap, another murdered officer." The voice startled the two children huddled together next to a pile of crates. The man neared the body as the two stared in wonder. "Hiraisho? Not you too," the officer said, kneeling to see the victim clearer._

"_Did you know my daddy?" Sango asked as she stood from her hiding place. The man looked in horror as he realized that this was the dead man's child._

"_Oh, Kami." He radioed the precinct, reporting the murder and two possible eye witnesses._

_Minutes later, several police cars arrived and a young female officer approached the children, asking several questions. Sango and Inuyasha stood quietly, not responding to any of the questions, instead they looked seemingly through the woman as if she wasn't there. Inuyasha's eyes rested on the opposite wall, while Sango looked to the street outside the alley. Then, suddenly, Sango, in a silent burst of tears, she asked for her mommy._

_The woman agreed and drove the two to the Hiraisho home. It was a small, one-story house with a fenced in backyard in a cozy neighborhood with plenty of children. In the warm summer heat, the rest of the neighborhood children were out playing either in parks or by other means of amusement._

_When Mrs. Hiraisho opened the door, a look of surprise washed over her graceful features. At first, she thought that her daughter had been terribly injured, especially when she saw that Inuyasha was covered in the blood as well, but by the forlorn look on her daughter's face and no visible wounds, she understood what had happened and solemnly allowed the officer and the children to enter. Her worst fear had just become reality._

_Grabbing two sleep shirts and several towel and wash rags, Mrs. Hiraisho swept Sango and Inuyasha into the washroom to bathe and change. She then picked up the phone and dialed Inuyasha's mother, Karen Donoutai, telling her the news and asking her to come over._

* * *

_The rest of that afternoon had been spent with the police questioning the children of what they had seen. Unfortunately, neither Sango not Inuyasha could remember the name of the man except that his family name was "Onigumo."_

_After so many hours of repetitive questions from differing officers, Sango's little mind was overloaded with images from earlier that day, and unable to bear the house any longer, she ran to the closest semblance of comfort she could think of: the shade of the oak from before._

_Worried, Inuyasha followed his friend and found her curled into a little human bouncy ball. Sensing his presence, the ability that all girls seem to possess, Sango managed to squeak out a small "go away."_

"_Why?" he asked in attempt to cheer her up._

"_I says so that's why, stupid meanie-head," she said without much conviction and wrapped tighter into herself._

"_I don' care," he said, "I just don't think you should be 'lone right now 'sall."_

"_But I want's ta be 'lone, Fluffy," she replied, referring to his wind tossed mane, slowly lifting her head to reveal tearstained cheeks. "Inuyasha, promise me you won't grow up to be like that man. Please?"_

_She mentally willed him to say okay and knew he would, but lately she figured that guys were sort of "iffy" about making decisions. Like her baby brother, Kohaku, who was expected any day now even though he was due almost two weeks before._

"_I promise, Sango-chan," he assured her, his eyes conveying his sincerity with their warmth, and finding the comfort she so desperately needed, her eyes welled up with tears with a renewed hope, but Inuyasha didn't know that._

_His eyes widened in fear when he saw her tears. "Pwease don' cwy, Sango-chan," he said._

_At the sight of Inuyasha's widened eyes and his imitation of a baby voice, Sango collapsed onto his shoulder in a bout of laughter and mirth, catching him off guard._

"_Whatcha laughin' for? I thought you were cryin'," he asked confused at the sudden change in outbursts._

"'_Cuz of the way you seemed so sad when I 'bout cried. Inu-chan, why'd ya sound so sad?"_

"_Well," he said, looking anywhere but at the girl across from him, "it scares me when girls cry."_

_Eyes taking on a sudden spark, a question popped to her active young brain. "Why do it scare you?"_

"'_Cuz I don't know what I did wrong."_

"_Butcha didn't do nothin' wrong, silly willy!"_

"_But Sesshy always says it's my fault when Mommy cries."_

"_Sesshy's a butt! You shouldn't listen to him," she said, slyly reaching up to tweak one of his puppy ears._

"_Hey!"_

"_Hey, yourself."_

"_What's with that?"_

"_What's with what?"_

"_With this," he said, pretending to tweak his own ear._

"_Oh that?" she asked, straightening her locks with her fingers, feigning innocence._

"_Yes, that, dummy!_

"_I felt like it that's why!" she said as if she'd just announced to the world the answer to the meaning of life. "What is wittle Inu gunna go cwyin' to his mommy?"_

"_No," he glared playfully, promising revenge._

"_You're such a baby, Inu-chan."_

"_Who you callin' a baby, wimp?"_

"_You, Fluffy, that's who! HEY!"_

"'_Hey' what?"_

"_Betcha I'll make it home 'fore you!"_

"_You're on, slowpoke!"_

"_Hey! I'm telling!"_

"_Not if I beat you back!"_

"_That makes no sense!"_

"_Yeah it do!"_

_The two raced home and were halfway there when Inuyasha decided he wanted to play a special form of tag. "POKE! You're it!"_

"_Not for long, Furr-face!" she yelled, poking him and turning back toward the park._

"_You won't get away with that."_

"_Wanna bet?"_

_They chased each other around the park until twilight when they decided to "take a little nap" before heading home._

* * *

_The children woke the next morning to a black lab and a cocker spaniel attacking their faces relentlessly with their tongues. "Ugh!" Inuyasha sputtered. "Dog spit!" _

_"What are you whinin' 'bout?" You're half dog yourself, Fluffy."_

_Ignoring Sango's remark, Inuyasha wiped off his face and blinked at the bright morning. "Urm, Sango-chan? When did it get light out?"_

_"I guess while we were asleep," she said, sitting up. A muffled rumble emerged from the depths of her stomach. "Urg, I'm hungry. How 'bout you?"_

_"Kinda," he said to the sky. "You know we might want to get home now. They might be looking for us."_

_"I guess you're right," she groaned, reluctantly getting to her feet. "Let's go. Sorry, puppies!"_

* * *

_"WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN!?" Mrs. Hiraisho practically screamed as the two six-year-olds entered the house yawning and complaining of empty stomachs. "We've been worried sick about you two!"_

_"We fell asleep in the park!" Sango chirped brightly as a content parakeet._

_"What were you doing there after dark!?" Mrs. Donoutai asked looking from her son to the young girl standing next to him. They reeked of dog and dirt and were badly in need of a bath._

_"Leave the kids alone, Karen," Inuyasha's half-brother intervened. "Don't you think they've been though enough lately?"_

_"Yes, but, Sesshoumaru, they could have been kidnapped. Or worse!"_

_"That's true, but they weren't, so rejoice in the fact that they are here now and are filling your nostrils with the odor of dog. Yum."_

_Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she turned to her young son, embracing him in a hug that relayed to Inuyasha a message of just how much he meant to her. She stood up as her eyes turned cloudy and thoughts dark while Mrs. Hiraisho asked the two if they wanted something to eat._

_"YES! Yes, please!" they answered in unison._

_"Well! Sesshoumaru, will you go help your brother and Sango wash up so I can fix them something to eat?_

_The fifteen-year-old grumbled as he got up and escorted the two hyperactive kids to the wash room. "You know what she's making you eat, right?" Sesshoumaru asked once they were out of earshot of the adults._

_"No, what, Sesshy-sama?" Sango asked looking up at her friend's brother with wide eyes anxious to know what breakfast would be._

_"Bug wings and caterpillar gut grits, dog brain eggs, roach toast, and to drink, **lemonade**."_

_"EWWW!" Sango screeched, squinting her eyes closed. "They can't make me drink it!"_

_"Yes, they can, Sango. They can make you eat or drink whatever they want you to."_

_"Don' listen to him, Sango-chan. He's just bein' a meanie-head. They won't **really** feed us that gross stuff."_

_"Think what you want, little brother, but don't come crying to me when you have a dragonfly wing caught between your teeth and lemonade spewed on you by Sango here because of her unnatural fear of it. Come on let's get you cleaned up."_

_Setting Sango first on the sink counter, Sesshoumaru, took a damp rag, wiping off her face and instructing her to wash her hands as he did the same with Inuyasha._

_They walked back to the kitchen and sat down to the table as Mrs. Hiraisho served them each a tuna sandwich with green tea for Sango and lemonade for Inuyasha. Inuyasha looked at his food and turned to his brother. "You're such a liar, Sesshoumaru. None of what you said is here."_

"_Oh, look again, little brother, don't forget the lemonade." The indicated glass that was halfway lifted to Inuyasha's lips caught Sango's attention the second it left Sesshoumaru's mouth. Pausing from her ravenous consumption of the tuna sandwich, she watched in horror as Inuyasha took a sip._

"_Aii!" she screeched. "Inu-chan! How can you drink the drink of evil?!"_

"_Urm. It's good?" he said between mouthfuls of his own tuna sandwich._

"_B-but! But it's **lemonade**." She whispered the word as if it were the most vile, truly evil thing in the universe._

"_At least you're not drinking it, Sango-chan," Sesshoumaru pointed out._

_She inhaled to retort but nothing popped to mind and decided instead to continue devouring her sandwich._

_Just then the doorbell rang and Mrs. Hiraisho got up and opened the door. "Detective Naraku!" she gasped. "What brings you here?"_

"_Please, forgive me dropping in so unexpectedly, Mrs. Hiraisho. I just came by to offer my condolences. It's such a terrible thing: what happened to your husband."_

"_Please, Detective, call me Aya. Won't you come in? I've just made the kids some tuna sandwiches. Would you like something to eat also?"_

"_No, ma'am. I couldn't impose. I just came by to say how deeply sorry I was that this happened. It always happens to the best."_

_Meanwhile, at the sound of the voice, both Sango and Inuyasha froze with their sandwiches hanging half-chewed from their mouths. _That voice_, they thought._

_Quietly, Sango slid from her chair and crept to the foyer where she could easily hide from view behind a bookshelf and see clearly out the front window. And there, in plain daylight, talking to her mother as if he'd done nothing wrong, stood none other than Onigumo himself._

_Sango fainted._

* * *

Sango sat straight up in her bed. Drenched in a cold sweat, she slowly recalled the dream. _That was ten years ago,_ she thought. _What brought that back to my mind?_ Lying back down, she tried to slow her breathing. _Why can't I remember what he looks like now, though?_

* * *

Special thanks to bluberrymist who helped me tremendously with this first chapter and her unending patience. This has just been re-edited from the original version of it and hopefully I haven't left any errors in there. Hope you like me revamped version. Please comment. 'Twill make me one very happy author. Stay safe and Merry Christmas!! 


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